Watch: Aerostat Blimp Records A-10 Strike on the Taliban

The first clip shows multiple insurgents emplacing an improvised explosive device in a regularly patrolled roadway, but an A-10 comes in and drops a bomb directly on top of them. The Taliban team is wiped out, but the A-10 comes in for a gun run on to the smoldering chunks of meat anyway. The next […]

Investigation Finds that Green Berets fought in Kunduz Without Proper Maps

The Army Special Forces unit that fought its way into the Afghan city of Kunduz after it was seized by the Taliban in October initially did so without proper maps, according to recently declassified documents. The documents, released last month, were part of a heavily redacted report on the Oct. 3, 2015 bombing of a […]

Afghanistan hangs six death row prisoners in crackdown on Taliban

Afghanistan hanged six prisoners convicted of terrorism offences, as part of a tougher new policy towards the Taliban promised by President Ashraf Ghani in retaliation for last month’s suicide attack which killed at least 64 people in Kabul. The death sentences, carried out at the Pule Charkhi prison on the outskirts of Kabul on Sunday, […]

Pentagon asks Congress to limit Afghanistan trips

The Pentagon has asked Congress to limit official travel to Afghanistan during a new fighting season so helicopters and other support would be available for military use rather than to transport lawmakers, a senior military official said Friday. Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Defense Secretary Ashton Carter asked that travel be […]

Watch: An Odd Approach to Air Defense – The Upside Down AK 47

Don’t try this at home, because it’s just stupid. In 1996, Afghanistan Northern Alliance fighters, loyal to Ahmed Shah Massood faced off against a Taliban air and ground attack. One eccentric fighter opted to turn his Ak-47 upside down, in a misguided effort to defend against the air attack. It didn’t work out for him. Yes, […]

89 female Afghan cadets start ‘Special Operations Education’ in Turkey

A group of at least 89 female cadets of the Afghan National Police (ANP) forces have started training “Training of Trainers” and “Special Operations Education” in Turkey, it has been reported. The training of the female ANP cadets kicked off on Monday and will continue for a period of at least two months. Turkish Deputy […]

Navy SEALs Facing a Glut of Publicity Since Osama Bin Laden Raid

“We sleep peaceably in our beds at night only because rough men stand ready to violence on our behalf.”              That quote has been applicable since almost the beginning of time; certainly since the formation of nation states. The most well-known example of modern times will celebrate its anniversary this month, five years after assaulters […]

Abu Zubaydah’s journey from student to mujahedeen

Al Jazeera has obtained a copy of the secret personal diaries of Abu Zubaydah, one of the highest-profile prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. The six notebooks, which were obtained from a former U.S. government intelligence official who worked with the CIA and FBI on Al-Qaeda’s rise to power, were discovered at a safe house in Pakistan where Abu […]

Green Beret officer blames ‘moral cowardice’ for Doctors Without Borders strike

Declassified military documents released Friday detail not only how the United States mistakenly struck a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Afghanistan last year but also frustrations among Special Operations troops. The strike, which killed at least 30 people at the hospital, occurred in the city of Kunduz, which the Taliban had seized in previous days […]